Much thicker, not really defined by your guys standards, ALOT bigger shoulders. I might do a cut or I might just eat maint at 185lbs and see where that takes me. I could care less about how I look though, I'm mostly concerned with strength and continuing to not have any injures because I know in the long run that will get me the body comp I would eventually like.

Can anyone suggest what I'm doing wrong? My bench is increasing, which I like as I'd likes more define chest. My squat is okay but my thighs and general lower body became huge. I don't fit into any of my pants well now. I also jumped up to about 155lbs now from maybe around 145 or so. If I'm trying to go for aesthetics and keep wearing my jawnz, this blows : (

In lieu of squats I was considering weighted lunges or something. As mentioned before I also on a bit of a carb diet and now trying to go back to proteins, vegs, and fruits

You can't really make your upper body grow a lot more than your lower body unless you work it a lot more, alt. drop squats and deadlifts. Don't do that. It would limit your overall progress. Your upper body will catch up soon enough if you just continue progressing.

I honestly believe you just don't eat the right stuff and the right amount + you don't lift very heavy and progressively overload.

When you've got those down, you first want to check if your mobility is sufficient and if you've got any major postural problems that would hinder you (excessive kyphosis and anterior pelvic tilt, for instance). If it's bad, start working on mobility ASAP and do as much as you can, every day. No way around this if it's bad.

As for the actual lifting, you want to make sure you use correct form to work the right muscles, avoid injury and to be able to push more weight. Newer lifters often have problems with proper technique on the major barbell compounds (bench, squat, deadlift). Watch a lot of instructional videos and read as much as you can. Make sure you target the right muscle groups (for instance: don't "bro bench" and end up working your front delts instead of chest, which practically everyone does at a commercial gym).

You can't really make your upper body grow a lot more than your lower body unless you work it a lot more, alt. drop squats and deadlifts. Don't do that. It would limit your overall progress. Your upper body will catch up soon enough if you just continue progressing.

I honestly believe you just don't eat the right stuff and the right amount + you don't lift very heavy and progressively overload.

When you've got those down, you first want to check if your mobility is sufficient and if you've got any major postural problems that would hinder you (excessive kyphosis and anterior pelvic tilt, for instance). If it's bad, start working on mobility ASAP and do as much as you can, every day. No way around this if it's bad.

As for the actual lifting, you want to make sure you use correct form to work the right muscles, avoid injury and to be able to push more weight. Newer lifters often have problems with proper technique on the major barbell compounds (bench, squat, deadlift). Watch a lot of instructional videos and read as much as you can. Make sure you target the right muscle groups (for instance: don't "bro bench" and end up working your front delts instead of chest, which practically everyone does at a commercial gym).

Curious what this means because the couple people I've watched benching weren't doing anything weird. Don't really make a habit of watching people bench though. More funny to see them squat.

Plus one. If lifting for strength or "not aesthetics" didn't have any physique changes whatsoever I am extremely skeptical that the people who claim to not care about looks would still lift.

Aesthetics are the least of my worries in terms of goals but I'll be damned if its not something I enjoy the hell out of. Even looking at things through a pure performance standpoint, ultimately aesthetics are a large reason why I'm trying to hit that performance in the first place. Yeah I enjoy the mental aspect and the discipline and whatever but I think we all just wanna look good, rite?

Plus one. If lifting for strength or "not aesthetics" didn't have any physique changes whatsoever I am extremely skeptical that the people who claim to not care about looks would still lift.

Aesthetics are the least of my worries in terms of goals but I'll be damned if its not something I enjoy the hell out of. Even looking at things through a pure performance standpoint, ultimately aesthetics are a large reason why I'm trying to hit that performance in the first place. Yeah I enjoy the mental aspect and the discipline and whatever but I think we all just wanna look good, rite?

I confess that the aesthetic benefits of lifting keeps me lifting. My gains over the last 1.5 years have been significant and noticeable. Lots of mirin going on during my yoga classes, in particular.

Probably once I start to approach 240's or if I can't break a 450 bench, 650 squat, and 700 deadlift. I'm fairly certain I can do those naturally but if worse comes to worse, time to implement some steroids. (0)